Bill
Gates is once again the world's richest person. The 57-year-old
cofounder of Microsoft recaptured the title from Mexican investor Carlos
Slim, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as the software
maker hit a five-year high. It is the first time Gates has held the
mantle since 2007. His fortune is valued at $72.7 billion, up 16%
year-to-date.
Slim's America Movil, the largest mobile-phone
operator in the Americas, has dropped 14% this year after Mexico's
Congress passed a bill that could quash the billionaire's market
dominance. That's helped erase more than $3 billion from the 73-year-old
tycoon's net worth.
"When they're talking about reform in a
country that's generally poor, and the guy shows up No. 1 on the list —
not a good thing," said Greg Lesko, managing director at New York-based
Deltec Asset Management, which oversees $750 million and has an
"underweight" position in Slim's flagship company. "He's had a pretty
good monopoly situation in Mexico, and the Mexican cellphone user has
been paying more than he should. We applaud it for the country."
Earlier
this month, a group of kazoo-playing protesters confronted Slim when he
appeared at an event at the New York Public Library, denouncing him for
overcharging consumers to enrich himself. He denies the accusation.
The
bill passed in Mexico last month, which is backed by President Enrique
Pena Nieto and is now before state legislatures , would allow regulators
to break up phone companies with more than 50% of the market or force
them to share their networks. America Movil has 70% of Mexico's
mobile-phone subscribers and 80% of the country's landlines.
Microsoft
shares have surged 28% this year, buoyed by cost controls and sales of
business and server software amid weak demand for personal computers
running the new Windows 8 operating system. Gates's fortune has also
benefited from a rally in stock holdings that include the Canadian
National Railway Co and waste-collection company Republic Services.
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